ForexSpirit

Since these blog posts have been as much about my health as my actual trading over the last couple of weeks, I thought I’d share another quick update on the state of my lower back.

I’m definitely on the road to recovery; the majority of the pain has receded. I still have some lingering tightness and slight discomfort on my right side but that has been getting less and less each day. I still don’t have full flexibility left, especially in my hamstrings.

Last Wednesday (maybe in foresight of my impending collapse on Thursday) I ordered an inversion table, as I want to have something in addition to my usual stretches and exercise to hopefully reduce or eliminate the chance of future back pain.

I’ve heard good things about inversion tables, especially if you use them on a regular basis. The table arrived yesterday and I unpacked and assembled it last night. Even though I’m starting out to use it slowly, I’ve found it very relaxing to use.

One of the benefits of inversion is increased oxygen to the brain. I’m thinking of trying to incorporate an inversion session prior to when I trade in the morning. As well as decompressing my spine, I think it will help wake me up fully, increase my alertness and maybe even allow for a sort of meditative preparation to get me in the zone.

Back to the trading. Today was a new one when I viewed the hourly chart. The first few hours of the London session had price inching back up to the resistance level at 1.4900 (which was breached yesterday for a short while with a false breakout). The 5:00 EDT hour was a game changer, engulfing the prior three hours. It seemed to be another solid bounce back into the 1.4750-4900 range.

With the ECB rate announcement up later in the morning I decided to stick to the short move unfolding. I felt it unlikely that the market would look to retest all the way back up to 1.4900 by 7:45 EDT.

Bias: short
Conviction: medium

The purple entry was based on the bounce from the new low at 1.4820, followed by a new minor high, with price then breaking down through that micro up trendline. I waited to see if a new low was on the cards, but bailed early when it pushed up before even reaching the prior low.

The first red entry was simply going short on reaching the minor resistance level that seemed to be forming at 1.4835. Price pushed down but I was unable to grab the 5 pips I had targeted for myself. I held on and placed a second entry on a failed breakout above the 1.4835 level.

Even though this second entry was very similar in price to the first leg I was comfortable making it based on my continuing conviction in the short bias I held. 1.4835 might have fallen as resistance, but 1.4840 held.

I had a 5 pip TP level set for the sequence which was hit on a push down to retest the low at 1.4920.

I was now up 0.8% on the day and felt that I was done. My resolve was tested almost immediately, as I saw the potential for going long on the third failure to push below 1.4820. I passed on the chance, content with what I’d bagged already.

In hindsight, I should probably have availed of my trading rule which allows me to put on a 2:1 geared position against my bias. This would have allowed me to test the opportunity without risking too much. If price had gone south I would have bailed rather than try to average down and salvage something.